In the last nine months, we’ve seen a re-energized national retailer base in the Connecticut market that’s seeking new opportunities and absorbing prime retail space. The national retailers never completely disappeared; however, from late 2008 through the spring of 2011 there was little momentum from this sector. This newfound activity has served to restore the confidence of both the landlord and the local retailer base, effectively stabilizing rents and reducing vacancy rates in prime retail corridors.
There was a great deal of talk about the “flight to quality” during the economic downturn and that trend continues. We are seeing especially enlivened activity in the upscale retail main streets in Connecticut including Greenwich Avenue in Greenwich, Main Street in Westport and Elm Street in New Canaan. This is not only a local trend, but a global one, as rental rates on high street retail corridors around the globe experienced a 4.8 percent increase year-over-year and luxury goods have made a strong comeback with year-over-year growth of 8.5 percent for the 12 months ending in August 2011. This trailed only the wholesale clubs segment in terms of overall performance. U.S. luxury retailers are also the beneficiaries of a weak U.S. dollar that has attracted record numbers of foreign tourists. On a year-over-year basis, international visitor spending in 2011 increased at an average of more than $1 billion per month and totaled $87 billion through the first half of 2011.
Select national retailers that have completed deals on the high streets of Fairfield County include West Elm, Urban Outfitters (both Urban Outfitters and Terrain concepts), Nike, Theory, Longchamp and Hermes. A number of these transactions represented first-in-the-market locations, which adds to the excitement and cachet of these shopping streets and serves to increase leasing activity.
• West Elm leased space at 37 Main Street in Westport, its first store in the state.
• Urban Outfitters completed deals in Greenwich at 20 East Elm Street and Westport at 101-107 Post Road East, its second and third stores in Connecticut. (The company’s first Connecticut store is located in New Haven.)
• Urban Outfitters is opening its first Terrain store in the market at the former Curran Cadillac site in Westport (561 Post Road East), the second store of its kind in the country!
• Hermes signed a lease at 272 Greenwich Avenue, Greenwich — its first store in the state.
• Longchamp signed a lease at 272 Greenwich Avenue, Greenwich — its first store in the state.
• Theory signed a lease at 69 Main Street, Westport.
• Nike signed a lease at 89 Main Street, Westport.
This upscale retail boost aside, retailers still remain conservative in their approach to new real estate and continue to seek risk-averse opportunities. They are taking strategic approaches to their physical stores, in many cases, opting to shrink their standard footprint and, alternatively, are creating new, offshoot concepts that allow for greater flexibility in areas where real estate is scarce and/or cost-prohibitive. The trend to smaller, more efficient and customer-targeted stores will continue as retailers can better manage their inventories and redefine their customer relationships through Internet sales and social media.
— Jessica Curtis, associate director
with Cushman & Wakefield
In the last nine months, we’ve seen a re-
energized national retailer base in the Connecticut market that’s seeking new opportunities and absorbing prime retail space. The national retailers never completely disappeared; however, from late 2008 through the spring of 2011 there was little momentum from this sector. This newfound activity has served to restore the confidence of both the landlord and the local retailer base, effectively stabilizing rents and reducing vacancy rates in prime retail corridors.
There was a great deal of talk about the “flight to quality” during the economic downturn and that trend continues. We are seeing especially enlivened activity in the upscale retail main streets in Connecticut including Greenwich Avenue in Greenwich, Main Street in Westport and Elm Street in New Canaan. This is not only a local trend, but a global one, as rental rates on high street retail corridors around the globe experienced a 4.8 percent increase year-over-year and luxury goods have made a strong comeback with year-over-year growth of 8.5 percent for the 12 months ending in August 2011. This trailed only the wholesale clubs segment in terms of overall performance. U.S. luxury retailers are also the beneficiaries of a weak U.S. dollar that has attracted record numbers of foreign tourists. On a year-over-year basis, international visitor spending in 2011 increased at an average of more than $1 billion per month and totaled $87 billion through the first half of 2011.
Select national retailers that have completed deals on the high streets of Fairfield County include West Elm, Urban Outfitters (both Urban Outfitters and Terrain concepts), Nike, Theory, Longchamp and Hermes. A number of these transactions represented first-in-the-market locations, which adds to the excitement and cachet of these shopping streets and serves to increase leasing activity.
• West Elm leased space at 37 Main Street in Westport, its first store in the state.
• Urban Outfitters completed deals in Greenwich at 20 East Elm Street and Westport at 101-107 Post Road East, its second and third stores in Connecticut. (The company’s first Connecticut store is located in New Haven.)
• Urban Outfitters is opening its first Terrain store in the market at the former Curran Cadillac site in Westport (561 Post Road East), the second store of its kind in the country!
• Hermes signed a lease at 272 Greenwich Avenue, Greenwich — its first store in the state.
• Longchamp signed a lease at 272 Greenwich Avenue, Greenwich — its first store in the state.
• Theory signed a lease at 69 Main Street, Westport.
• Nike signed a lease at 89 Main Street, Westport.
This upscale retail boost aside, retailers still remain conservative in their approach to new real estate and continue to seek risk-averse opportunities. They are taking strategic approaches to their physical stores, in many cases, opting to shrink their standard footprint and, alternatively, are creating new, offshoot concepts that allow for greater flexibility in areas where real estate is scarce and/or cost-prohibitive. The trend to smaller, more efficient and customer-targeted stores will continue as retailers can better manage their inventories and redefine their customer relationships through Internet sales and social media.
— Jessica Curtis, associate director with Cushman & Wakefield